Sunday, March 25, 2012

Organizational Moves

The Padres announced earlier today they had re-assigned 4 players to minor league camp and one to AA San Antonio. RHP Miles Mikolas and Matt Painter, INF Jedd Gyorko and OF Jaff Decker were sent to ML camp. INF Jeudy Valdez went to AA San Antonio.

The Padres team press announcement noted this leaves 41 players in camp, of which 10 are non-roster invitees, one of whom is Jeff Suppan. I may be the only Padre blogger hoping Suppan makes this team.

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Of course, those roster moves are dwarfed by the intrigue surrounding club ownership. In the latest development of what has rapidly turned into a soap opera, Padres CEO and apparent heir to ownership Jeff Moorad stepped down as CEO. It was initially reported Moorad had accepted a VP position with the club and that VP Tom Garfinkel had been elevated to CEO. Later reporting indicated Moorad had cleaned out his office entirely and was gone.

That's not the end of the intrigue. John Moores, who was compelled to sell the team as a result of his divorce proceedings, has been reported to having renewed interest in steering the club. If that happens does he undo all that Moorad's team did, especially in the front office? Moorad cleaned house, bringing in a new GM, revamping and expanding the scouting department, expanding the sales force. His changes have paid off in that the Padres now boast a top 5 farm system (#1 according to ESPN's Keith Law). One would hope Moores is a savvy enough businessman to see these changes have largely been for the better of the Padres franchise.

What does Moorad's step-down mean for his ownership group? One would think that whatever objections exist to Moorad's ownership, they would not be removed simply because Moorad's no longer the front man. My guess is the objections are serious enough they want him to have no part of the team which finally buys the club from Moores. It stinks from Jeff's perspective, in that he and his ownership group have sunk roughly $200M into the franchise trying to buy it and that dream won't be realized.

Personally I don't care if the owner is Moores, Moorad, or some as-yet unknown Selig-favored son. I don't have the animosity towards John Moores that some Padres fans do. However it is not good for business, nor for building a fan base, to have this kind of uncertainty surrounding the team. The Padres and MLB in San Diego would be better off if either John Moores came forward, reasserted control of the team and pulled it off the market, or the team is sold, so everyone can move on and return to what is important: